Black box found in train crash probe

One train driver survived the crash with serious injuries but he was

not well enough to be questioned.

Eurostar and Thalys high-speed services from London and Paris to Brussels were suspended for a third day today. Other train drivers held a wildcat strike that left thousands of commuters without their normal transport.

Rescue workers picked through the wreckage of the two commuter trains that collided on Monday in one of the worst rail accidents in Belgian history.

Provincial officials raised the number of injured from 95 to 171 people, some seriously hurt.

European Commission officials said the rail track near Buizingen station where the crash took place, nine miles south of Brussels, lacked the latest automatic braking system designed to stop trains after they pass through a red signal.

Governor of the province of Flemish Brabant Lodewijk De Witte said earlier that one train apparently did not heed a red signal as the second train – leaving 10 minutes late from Buizingen – moved on to the track of the oncoming train.

National Railways spokesman Jochen Goovaerts described the wreck as a lateral collision, contradicting initial reports that the trains crashed head-on. One train was apparently diverting to another track when it was hit.

The search continued for the second data recorder that could help determine whether mechanical failure, human error or freezing weather was responsible for the crash. It should also reveal how fast the trains were moving when they collided.

"There are a lot of possible explanations to this tragedy," he

said. "We don't want to put the blame where it doesn't belong."

The accident scene was sealed off yesterday with police tape. One carriage from each train was tipped to its side. It was not known whether more bodies were trapped underneath.

Rail management company Infrabel said its technical teams would need three days to inspect six rail lines once the wreckage was removed, meaning train traffic was likely to remain disrupted in the capital for the rest of the week.